This disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus. Typically, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes: a photoconductive drum, and a charger that charges a surface of the photoconductive drum This charger is arranged around the photoconductive drum, and generates nitrogen oxide called ozone or NOx when it is in operation. At this point, the ozone with strong oxidation power oxidizes the surface of the photoconductor, deteriorating resistance of this surface. Moreover, reaction of the nitrogen oxide to moisture in air generates an ion product such as nitric acid or ammonium, and this ion product is water-soluble and thus its adhesion to the surface of the photoconductive drum results in intake of moisture from the atmosphere, deteriorating resistance of this surface. This consequently raises a problem that side flow occurs in potential at an edge part of an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photoconductive drum, causing deterioration in image quality of a printed image.
To solve this problem, for example, there is an image forming apparatus which has a heat generator built in a photoconductive drum and which dries a surface of the photoconductive drum by heat generation from this heat generator to remove moisture as a factor contributing to the deterioration in surface resistance of the photoconductive drum. This image forming apparatus is a monochrome machine having only one image formation unit.
Due to increasing demands for space saving (downsizing) of an image forming apparatus in recent years, there are demands for arranging, in limited space, a photoconductive drum and its accompanying components such as a developing device and a toner collecting container.
However, in the image forming apparatus described above, attempts to achieve the space saving results in a problem that a toner in the developing device and the toner collecting container is condensed by heat from the heat generator of the photoconductive drum due to dense packing of the photoconductive drum and the components such as the developing device and the toner collecting container in the narrow space.